SOUTHPORT LOLLIPOP LADY, EMILY JONES MAKES FINAL 6 OF NATION WIDE WORKER OF THE YEAR COMPETITION

THE 6 finalists for the title of UK Worker of the Year have now been announced, as competition organisers, Dickies, move a significant step closer to selecting Britain’s number one worker for 2011 - from across the nation’s workforce.

Similar to last year, they represent a wide range of professions and a wide geographical spread. They are:- Paul Crowe – a chef from Shrewsbury; Sam Gibbon – an electrician from Newport; Emily Jones – a lollipop lady from Southport; Jason Lawrence – an AV sales manager from Abingdon; Anna Simpson – a charity support worker from Buxton and Jan Whelan – a teacher from Liverpool.

UK Worker of the Year is now in its second year of looking to recognise, reward and promote excellence in the British workforce and the word has spread wider than ever before about both the competition and what is involved. "The standard of entries has been noticeably stronger than in 2010.  So, it has actually been more difficult to select the finalists – but I think that reflects well on the competition and how seriously people are taking it." said Maurice Morton, European Sales and Marketing Director.

"It was obviously no small task to sift our way through the hundreds and hundreds of nominations we received. So it’s been a multi-stage process through which we gradually whittled things down to the final six, but it’s been a fascinating task." explains fellow judge Gary Barak, the UK Automotive Aftermarket’s 2011 Person of the Year.

The prizes on offer to those people who best embody what doing a good job is all about, no doubt constitute a considerable incentive to enter. The winner gets their choice of Renault family hatchback, MPV or a Van, worth £18,000. Other prizes are on offer include thousands of pounds worth of holidays for the runners up as well as a host of high quality workwear from Dickies. But, as the UK’s 2010 Worker of the Year, John Stone comments, winning the competition is much more than simply taking one of the great prizes on offer: "Being recognised as UK Worker of the Year has been a really big thing for me. It’s been a massive confidence boost and really is something truly life changing."

John is one of the judges for the 2011 competition and he will join panel Chairman, TV Presenter and Consumer Motoring Champion, Quentin Willson and the other judges at the world famous Pinewood Film studios in October to select this year’s UK Worker of the Year.

"The competition concept, seeking out and promoting what’s great in our workforce, reminded me last year how much we have to be proud of in the UK. I was hugely impressed by the people who made it through to the final and I am really looking forward to meeting this year’s finalists." states Quentin Willson.

UK Worker of the Year facebook site can be located at:- facebook.com/ukworkeroftheyear.    Also you can get general details of the initiative about the UK Worker of the Year on the competition's website.

Action needed to avoid disaster

A North West MEP is calling for action to combat the "slow moving disaster" of global warming that he claims will have consequences as far reaching as war.  Chris Davies says that economic problems have sapped the will of governments to act, but warns that it is in Europe’s interest to invest in new greener technologies to avoid being overtaken by China.

The Liberal Democrat is responsible for drafting the European Parliament’s response to proposals for reducing CO2 emissions.  In a discussion paper he points out that global warming emissions increased last year by nearly 6%, far exceeding the rate which the majority of the world’s scientists say will lead to dangerous temperature increases.

The British government has already set ambitious goals to reduce UK emissions through greater energy efficiency and development of low carbon power stations, but its plans require the support of EU measures that have yet to be approved.

Davies says that Europe must set itself tough targets to promote investment. He points to the fact that most solar panels are now made in the Far East as evidence that industry here is not doing enough to keep up. 

"Britain in the 1950s failed to modernise its manufacturing industry and was left behind while Germany underwent an economic transformation. In the same way the whole of Europe is now at risk of being overtaken by China and the Far East.  Renewable energy has an important role to play, but many countries will also have to make use of nuclear power and carbon capture technology to reduce emissions.  We must put in place the mechanisms to promote investment, and we must do it fast." said Davies.

Davies says that if MEPs reject the plans put forward by the European Commission the effect will be to undermine worldwide efforts to combat climate change.  "It would be a damning blow to all who recognise that global warming is a threat to billions of people on the planet."

BT broadband fault

WE would like to know who has been affected by the power failure which caused problems for many BT Broadband customers in the UK. It is said that the fault happened at a major exchange in Birmingham leaving many homes and businesses, in several parts of the country, without broadband services on Monday, 3 October 2011. BT said:- "It was no more than 5% of our total broadband connections that this issue had affected. Engineers worked quickly at the exchange in Birmingham to restore the network and the service was soon restored. The majority of our customers have been affected for little more than an hour. We can confirm that all services are now working across the network. We would like to say sorry to all our BT Broadband customers for this brief outage. Should any customers continue to experience difficulty in accessing their broadband service, they are advised to turn their hub or modem off and on again."

THE LOVE AFFAIR WITH APPLIANCES AND GADGETS THREATENS GREEN TARGETS

OUR love of electrical appliances and gadgets in the North West could contribute to the UK missing its carbon emission reduction targets for domestic appliance electricity use by as much as 7 million tonnes.  That is the stark finding of a new report by the Energy Saving Trust, the independent body set up to help householders reduce their energy bills and combat climate change.

If householders do not act then the UK will miss its 2020 target of a 34% reduction in domestic appliance electricity carbon emissions from 1990 levels by up to 7 million tonnes unless we ramp up our efforts now.  The Energy Saving Recommended scheme is a UK-wide labelling programme which tests appliances on strict criteria and rewards the most energy efficient models.

The report reveals that if every household in the North West replaced just their old fridge freezer, washing machine and dishwasher with the most efficient Energy Saving Trust Recommended models, they could collectively save £63M on their fuel bills, and prevent 227,000 tonnes of CO2 from entering the atmosphere – enough to fill Wembley Stadium 29 times!

The report, The Elephant in the Living Room: how our appliances and gadgets are trampling the green dream, shows that in 2009 the average British household contained a staggering 3.5 times as many gadgets and appliances as it did in 1990.  3 of the worst offenders, the so-called Elephants in the Living Room are: large plasma TV; large fridge freezer with ice-maker; and tumble dryer.  The report also finds that despite householders’ best efforts to switch to energy-efficient products, we are actually consuming more energy than 5 years ago.

Report author Dr Paula Owen said:- "Although the findings of our study do make for stark reading, our message is that our domestic choices and behaviour in our homes can make a bigger impact than people think. The North West’s love affair with domestic gadgets and gizmos has to change, just because you have bought an efficient appliance, doesn’t mean you can use it carelessly and never switch it off.  We need to ask ourselves is that ice-maker in the fridge a necessity? Do I need to leave those chargers on the whole time? Do I need a 50+ inch TV screen? There’s more to this issue than using energy efficient light bulbs. Not only can North Westerners cut their carbon footprint, but they can also bring down their electricity bills considerably.  29% of the UK’s CO2 emissions come from the home. While many of us feel industry is the biggest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, it is behaviour on the home front that could make a difference in the UK hitting its overall national carbon emissions reduction target."

Acclaimed British designer Wayne Hemingway MBE, who has worked on award-winning eco-friendly housing projects, has backed the Energy Saving Trust's findings and insists it is not too late to act.  "This report is clearly a kick up the backside to all of us who imagine that we are taking big steps to a more sustainable future. Clearly we are not going to reverse, nor do we want to reverse the tremendous technological strides that mankind is making, but we must harness all this creativity to ensure that we are not storing up an environmental time bomb that will lead future generations to regret our technological advances.  The Government must continue to apply pressure on manufacturers to make their products more efficient through regulation and legislation. More must also be done to provide consumers in the North West with information on which products use the least electricity, and the benefits of using those products responsibly. But ultimately it is down to designers and scientists to push things forward and for the public to choose products that are responding to the issue. Together with industry, people living in the North West must also do their bit to ensure we meet the UK’s carbon emissions reduction target for domestic appliance electricity use by 2020."

The Elephant in the Living Room is the successor to the Energy Saving Trust 2006 study entitled: Rise of the Machines. It finds there has been good progress since 2006 in improving standards and legislation such as banning patio heaters and incandescent lightbulbs. But the findings also picked up worrying trends in consumer energy usage.

Experts point to the popularity of such devices as computers and all the extra gadgets that go with them: in 1985 only 13% of the population owned one but by 2009 ownership levels had topped 75%. Leaving your printer on 24/7, even though you only use it for a few minutes a day, can add lots to your electricity bill unnecessarily.

Although many household appliances such as fridges are now more energy efficient than in 1990 this is being undermined by our preference for larger US-style products, and such extras as ice-making machines, and even inbuilt TVs, on large fridge freezers which then use more energy that has nothing to do with cooling our food.  Similarly, our move towards larger washing machines has the potential to reduce energy use if this means fewer washes; but often no change in washing behaviour makes them a bigger burden on household bills.

In the report, the Energy Saving Trust makes a series of recommendations on how best to fight climate change on the domestic front.

1. Policy interventions and product technology improvements can only go so far when it comes to making deep emission reductions. There has to be a concerted effort to change the way people use electricity at home within this decade.

2. Labelling needs to be made clearer and more consistent so that consumers can tell which products really use the least electricity in their class, and which will save the most money on their energy bills.

3. Consumers need proper advice at the point of sale so they can buy the most efficient item for their needs.